If you were bidding on this engine last week, you should be very happy you did NOT win it! i already have a very nice PM Research #1 Drilling Engine, but it is a later cast iron version and these early bronze engines are hard to find. Unfortunately, when it arrived, it did not run. The piston was binding in the cylinder and the flywheel would not even turn over. Upon disassembly, I found that the cylinder was gouged and tapered, and the piston was .008 smaller diameter than the cylinder, with Teflon rings.
I had to bore the cylinder out as much as possible without cutting into one of the cylinder head bolt holes, which, by the way, were not drilled in a symmetrical pattern. I then made a new cast iron piston and used graphite yarn packing for the rings. After reassembly, I thought at first that the piston was hitting the bottom of the cylinder, but after I verified that it was indeed centered in the cylinder, I then pulled the valve chest apart and found that the valve itself needed to be adjusted. It was hitting inside the valve chest at one end of the stroke.
Next, I realized that was not quite the problem. The problem was the valve was not made to specs, and it needed milled down on both ends. I also noticed the mating surface of the valve was not flat, and again, not machined to specs. I was able to mill the valve down so that it laid flat and was finally machined to spec. After some new gaskets, reassembly, and some timing adjustment, it finally runs as it should, on only a couple pounds of air pressure. I will try it on steam soon. It should run fine on steam, with all new packing, gaskets, and getting rid of the Teflon rings, which seem to expand greatly under steam.
So, now it's a keeper, after all! And, I hope to get some information as to a date of manufacture. PM Research will be at NAMES, so hopefully they will have the information I am looking for.
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